Orlando Trails U.s. Gain In Home Resales

Existing-home sales nationally may be headed for their best year since 1979, but sales in metropolitan Orlando are trailing even 1984's level of activity, which was strong but shy of record levels.

The number of Orlando-area resales declined 5 percent last month compared with March 1984, the Orlando Area Board of Realtors' Multiple Listing Service reported Wednesday.

Through the first quarter of 1985, completed sales are off 3 percent compared with the same three-month period last year, the board said.

Sales measured in dollars were up 8 percent in March compared with a year ago. Through the first quarter, the dollar volume is 4 percent ahead of last year.

At the current sales pace, the Orlando-area board projects, just less than 6,400 homes would be resold this year, with a total dollar volume of $515.094 million. Last year, 7,291 sales were completed to total $631.765 million.

The record year for resale transactions in the Orlando market was 1979, when 9,538 homes changed hands and dollar volume totaled $466.498 million.

Economists for the National Association of Realtors say an increase in existing-home sales reflect an improving economy, as more people relocate to better jobs or move to more expensive homes.

Nationally, they predict more than 3 million existing homes will be sold this year. That would make 1985 the strongest year nationally since 1979, when 3.827 million homes were resold. Last year, 2.868 million existing homes were sold in the United States.

Although the nationwide pace of single-family home resales dropped 2.7 percent from January to February -- the latest month for which figures are available -- February was still the second-best month since June 1984, the national association said.

February's annualized sales rate of 2.92 million units -- which reflects what the sales total for a year would be if that month's pace were maintained for 12 months -- was 0.7 percent higher than the 2.9 million units recorded in February 1984, and 57 percent above the recession low of 1.86 million units in May 1982, the association said.

The highest monthly rate on record is 4.15 million units recorded in November 1978. That year also was the strongest sales year ever recorded by the association -- 3.986 million resales were logged.

At the time, long-term home mortgage rates averaged less than 10 percent.

Last month, the average effective interest rate for a long-term, fixed- rate mortgage covering 75 percent of the purchase price was 13.7 percent, according to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

The Realtors' group said 53 percent of the existing homes sold last month cost from $40,000 to $90,000.